


Sidebar

by PunkHazard



Category: Eyeshield 21
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-10
Updated: 2012-12-10
Packaged: 2017-11-20 18:46:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/588520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunkHazard/pseuds/PunkHazard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Monta sets things straight. Vaguely Monta/Unsui.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sidebar

**Author's Note:**

> SOMETIMES YOU WRITE THINGS JUST TO SEE IF YOU CAN. Also quarterbacks and receivers always have a great dynamic and I wanted to see some of that at Enma...!

They're losing against Ohjo but putting up a fight-- which everyone expected, really, Shin's grown even more in the last year playing against university-level teams, Sakuraba's been refining his pass-cutting, and Otawara's gotten even faster while the freshman Fires are still busy trying to shake off the rust from their third year of high school. 

Defense is up-- Sena shifts nervously in his spikes until he locks eyes with Shin. He flashes the linebacker a warm smile, as if greeting an old friend, puts his hands on his knees and visibly braces for Ohjo's snap. 

Unsui frowns, arms crossed over his chest, cleats fitfully scuffing the astroturf. Enma's still behind by nearly 20 points, and even after a year of it, he still hasn't adjusted to being on the losing side. Monta's sitting close enough to hear him when he mutters under his breath, _What would Hiruma do,_ and grinds his heel into the ground. 

Monta understands, of course-- Hiruma had left an incredible impression on every quarterback in the high school circuit, taking an unknown, tiny team like the Devilbats to the Christmas Bowl and then _winning_ it. There's no quarterback in Japan who wouldn't love to repeat the performance. 

As the only former Devilbat on the bench at the moment, he answers matter-of-factly, "Hiruma-senpai would definitely go with some sort of unreasonable trick play." 

Unsui inhales sharply, rubs a hand over the back of his neck and lets the breath out, turning to meet Monta's eyes. "Ah, sorry, I was just just thinking out loud. But that does sound about right." 

"Something wrong, Unsui-senpai?" 

"Just... thinking that I won't be able to take us to the Rice Bowl just yet." 

"You know, you're not really 'taking us' to the Rice Bowl," Monta grumbles, impatiently running a finger over the bandage on his nose, "it's not like we're saying 'hey, take us to Koshien!' or anything like that, we're all in this together." 

Kotaro looks over first, eyes wide, as if expecting some sort of explosion. The upperclassmen, actual Fires captain included, shift even closer, all of them pinning Unsui with expectant stares. He starts slowly, half his mind obviously still occupied by the game, but apologizes loudly enough to be heard, "It was presumptuous of me to say something like that. You're right, Monta." 

"No, I mean-- we don't need you to be Hiruma-senpai." Monta suppresses a sigh of frustration, hand moving to settle on Unsui's elbow, physically turning him in place to drag his focus away from the field for a few seconds. "We all think you're great MAX as yourself, Unsui-senpai, the Fires will win the Rice Bowl with our own way of playing." 

Monta didn't think he'd ever see Unsui blush, didn't think he'd ever be the cause of it, but he's suddenly intensely aware of the dozen sets of eyes that have been drawn away from the game and locked on the two of them. 

It's barely there, the faintest glow on high, sharp cheekbones under a dark athletes' tan-- Suzuna's reaching for her phone but all Monta can concentrate on is Unsui's hand, rising to bashfully run over his mouth, as if trying to physically dispel the heat from his face, callused palm covering his lips, fingers settling over the hard angle of his jaw. 

There's a short silence, just before he says, "Aah, thank you," and even Unsui's aware of the stunned quality in his own voice. "I'll remember that." 

(It looks good on him-- that humble, pleased surprise on his usually stoic face. 

It's almost unfair how good it looks on him.) 

When Suzuna later gleefully informs Monta of the answering redness on his own face, he denies it to the end-- she'd been too busy snapping pictures of Unsui to get photo evidence of anyone else who may or may not have been tomato-red in the immediate vicinity.


End file.
